Young children learning about feelings by teaching their “feeling buddies”: The Feeling Buddies curriculum

The Feeling Buddies curriculum, developed by Dr Becky Bailey, founder of Loving Guidance in Florida, USA, is designed to promote emotion knowledge and regulation in children from PreK to grade 2. The curriculum features “Feeling Buddies”, small plush dolls with different emotional expressions on their faces, to whom children teach the emotion words, calming strategies, and problem-solving techniques that their teachers are teaching them.

The Feeling Buddies curriculum uses songs, visual displays and role play in its 31 lessons (each 20 minutes long) that are to be delivered twice a week. The curriculum is scripted, and tips are given for classroom management as well as deepening students’ emotional learning. Take-home family activities are also provided to reinforce lesson concepts at home.